http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/South/05/11/mlk.street.ap/index.html
The article above talks about how a town was torn apart over re-naming a street after Martin Luther King. Friends are no longer speaking, blah, blah, blah.
Just curious…how would your town react? Sad to say, but I think my town would probably have a shit-fit. It is small, mostly white, and middle- to upper-middle-class.
Is there a difference between small towns in the North and small towns in the South?
Funny you should bring this up. The town I work in is going through this right now. They do have a street named after Dr. King already, but it’s a small and short residential street, and some folks think that isn’t good enough. So there is a proposal to name a much larger, very busy street after him instead - one of the oldest ones in town. The town is mostly white and upper-middle class, and quite liberal. It seems to be mostly about political correctness, unfortunately, rather than a genuine feeling regarding honoring the man’s accomplishments. I think there are better ways to honor them, too.
Personally I’ve always wondered why just about every town of any size has a street named after him. Why not a school, or a public rec center, or a library? Why not give out scholarships in his name and have a nice public ceremony?
Gosh, I don’t think there’s any town around here that DOESN’T already have a MLK street.
We have schools (and probably other public buildings) in the Chicago area named after him.
I remember the big hullaballoo about renaming Quirt Street in Lubbock Martin Luther King Blvd. “It will mess up the naming convention!” was one notable quote I think my second hand remembery recalls (the streets there are in alphabetical order).
Maybe I’m missing something, but it seems to me that of the four counties I’ve lived a significant amout of time in during my life (three that have MLK streets or blocks), the street seems to tend to be placed in a more ethnic part of town when it does happen … And Quirt was/is in a part of town considered by most of the people who didn’t live there ‘the wrong side of the tracks’ (and was, IIRC, across a set of railroad tracks).
It’s bizarre that that one issue, Vietnam, is his sole objection. Not exactly the first thing I think of when I think of MLK.
I’d point out to that guy that all of the people even he admires probably disagree with him on some issue. Doesn’t mean they aren’t people worthy of honor.
Of course, that’s assuming that’s his real objection, and not just an excuse to cover up his true racist objection.
I’ve noticed that for the last several years that a highway around here has slowly had MLK blvd signs erected along it.
It looks like they first erect a sign naming it the 3__ engineering batallion highway and then later the MLK sign goes up.
I don’t know if it is something official or someone trying to force a name change.
I don’t even know if MLK ever even visited Iowa.
I also noticed a large billboard with Kings picture on it .The picture looked to be faded and the caption was iirc “don’t let his memory fade.”
Here either.
I’m a graduate of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Experimental Laboratory School in Evanston, Illinois. It’s a sort of a weird magnet school; entrance is very competitive, and consideration is given to siblings of students and alums, and to the racial/geographic balance of the school as a mirror of the community (which is very racially mixed, although clumped in geographic clusters).
However, Evanston, Illinois isn’t exactly a representative cross-section of the U.S. as a whole, or even of the Midwest. It’s a very politically liberal university town. I distinctly remember thinking John Anderson was going to win the Presidential election in 1980, because all my friends’ parents were going to vote for him.
In Savannah, GA there was a street, West Broad St, with rich Black Historical significance, already well known in the region as the area where blacks were treated equally well before it became vogue, or required. There was resistance from the Black Community when that street was chosen to be renamed, it ALREADY HAD cultural significance on its own.
The town I live in now is 80% black, and we do not have an MLK Street.
This sounds really, really cool.
I am always astounded when I hear people getting up in arms about this. I mean, it’s just a street name! Named for a famous historical figure, like many other streets. Would these same people get worked up for Abraham Lincoln Lane? Dwight D. Eisenhower Circle? Even if you don’t “get” the significance of Rev. King, why all the fuss? I mean, when it comes down to it, who gives a flying flip if you live on “Timid Deer Lane” or “MLK Avenue”?
Why is it always Martin Luther King? Is he the only famous black person in the United States? Where are all the streets named after Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Bert Williams, Thurgood Marshall, Eubie Blake, Josephine Baker?
I think Eve brings up an excellent point. I’ve lived in three different states, and at least six different cities and I think every single one has an MLK street. (Actually, on second thought, that might not be true for the Ohio cities – I don’t remember being aware of MLK street in those places, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have them.)
I thought this was going to be a thread about how MLK street is always in a sort of ghetto kind of neighborhood. Everywhere I’ve lived where there IS a MLK street, it usually is in a ghetto-y part of town. Except in Tallahassee. MLK Boulevard here starts in a shopping/strip mall sort of area and gradually (literally) goes down the hill… and ends up in a sort-of ghetto neighborhood. Not necessarily in the worst, worst part of town, but not near Jeb’s house either… Although MLK does pass behind Jeb’s house a couple blocks to the west. (Referring to the Florida Governor’s Mansion, for those not familiar.)
So… What about your MLK? What sort of neighborhood is it in?
And to the OP: Do you think there’s racism inherent in your town’s reaction to the name change?
As other people have pointed out in this thread, street name changes often meet with opposition. And sometimes it’s not because people don’t like the person that the street will be named after, but rather because it’s a pain in the ass to change the name of the street you live on or to reprint stationery with your new address.
So, a city may change one street and they will opt to name it for the most famous person they can find.
To get a bunch of streets named after famous African-Americans you would need:
There is an MLK Blvd. in Cleveland.
And where I live now, there is an MLK Parkway in a very busy section of Durham - near a lot of shopping and one of the local universities. Just drove up it the other day myself.
When I was driving taxis in Cleveland I would have an occasional fare who would refer to MLK by the previous name “Liberty Blvd.” I’m not sure but I had been told the old name was a token granted to returning WWII vets and with only one exception I can think of off hand those referring to the street by the old name were vets heading to the VA hospital at Wade Park, so racism might not have been the motive for preferring the old name.
There’s even a Luther King Close in east London. Although it’s actually about as small and insignificant as roads get.
The Minnesota State Capitol Building is located on breath Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. I don’t recall too much controversy, but then maybe I just wasn’t paying attention.
My town is discussing this right now! We have no MLK street, and someone wants to have one. People are pretty hunky-dory with this idea. BUT the street he proposes is an old one, in a historical-ish area, and people treasure those names. So everyone is proposing a different road. Another proposal people are wrangling over is for a street named after the town’s sort-of founder, who owned the giant ranch that turned into the town, and who donated all the parkland and everything. So now we’re looking for two streets to rename, in a city where people are very attached indeed to their street names…